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GitHub Projects is a flexible, spreadsheet-like planning tool built directly into GitHub that helps teams plan, track, and manage work across repositories. It combines Kanban-style boards, table/spreadsheet views, and automation rules so you can link issues and pull requests into a single, real-time project view. Use Projects to centralize roadmaps, coordinate work across teams, and reduce manual tracking by tying project state directly to repository activity.
The image shows a GitHub Projects dashboard for a "Solar System Project," displaying tasks with their status, priority, assignees, and progress. Below, there are GitHub interface previews for team planning and Kanban view.
GitHub Projects aggregates issues and pull requests from multiple repositories into a single board or table. Combine custom fields, saved views, and automation to keep your project synchronized with issues/PRs and reduce manual updates.

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Overview: Core capabilities at a glance

Use the table below to quickly understand the main capabilities and typical use cases for GitHub Projects.

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How Projects connects with issues and pull requests

  • Add issues/PRs to a project from their sidebar or by dragging cards into a board.
  • When you enable automation, project items can update in response to repository events (for example, moving a card when an issue is closed).
  • Link back to the source issue/PR so the canonical record stays in the repository while the project tracks status and metadata.
  1. Basic Kanban workflow
    • Create a project and add columns: Backlog, In Progress, Review, Done.
    • Add issues and PRs to the project via the “Projects” selection in each issue/PR, or drag them into columns.
    • Configure automation rules to move items to Done when their linked issue is closed or PR is merged.
  2. Sprint planning using table view
    • Create custom fields such as Sprint, Story Points, and Priority.
    • Filter for the current sprint and bulk-edit the Sprint field or drag items into the sprint column.
    • Save this filtered view to use during planning and daily standups.
  3. Release planning with templates
    • Create a project template for release checklists and common tasks.
    • Instantiate the template for each release to ensure consistency across teams.
    • Use the timeline/roadmap view (if available) to visualize release milestones.
Be cautious with automations and permissions: overly complex automation can make project behavior unpredictable. Ensure users have the proper repository and project permissions before adding or modifying cross-repo items.

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Best practices

  • Start from a template to reduce setup time and keep structures consistent.
  • Standardize custom field names and allowed values (for example: Priority = High / Medium / Low).
  • Limit the number of automations per project and document their rules so team members understand expected behavior.
  • Use saved views for role-specific dashboards (maintainers, QA, product owners).
  • Regularly review and prune views, fields, and automations to prevent drift and clutter.

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Extending Projects: integrations and reporting

  • Integrations and API
    • Use the GitHub API and webhooks to integrate Projects with CI/CD systems, calendar tools, dashboards, or custom reporting. See the GitHub docs for developers: https://docs.github.com/en/developers/webhooks-and-events
    • Third-party apps in the GitHub Marketplace can add notifications, analytics, and other enhancements.
  • Reporting
    • Export project data or query via API to produce stakeholder reports (velocity, cycle time, open vs. closed items).
    • Use consistent custom fields (e.g., Story Points, Sprint) to enable meaningful metrics across projects.

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Wrap-up

GitHub Projects gives teams a GitHub-native way to plan, track, and manage work across repositories. By combining boards and tables with custom fields, automations, and saved views, you can centralize planning, reduce manual updates, and maintain a single source of truth tied directly to your issues and pull requests.

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